Room 301, 2012 by Jacqueline Felstead

Artist's statement

This portrait is of a resident of St Kilda's notorious Gatwick Private Hotel. Here, a self-conscious resident stands with a blanket covering their face and upper body, standing as photographers themselves used to when they would stand under a black cloth to better see through the camera lens. The hotel owner states: ‘Most [residents] keep to themselves, stay in their room or go about their business without bothering anyone…Most of the residents you wouldn't know existed.’ The work takes place in a context where anonymity and retreat from social dialogue are connected to social inequality.